So Zach will be 9months old on August 3rd. He's never been a great bottle feeder and absolutely refuses solids. The solids thing doesn't really bother me, i know BM is better for him than rice cereal. But we cannot get him to take a bottle, cup or anything at DC. He usually nurses around 6ish before i go to work and then as soon as I get there to get them at 3:30. But my DC-Mom fights with him everyday to get him to drink the milk that I pump everyday!! Yesterday it was about 1 oz and from an empty water bottle cause that's all he would drink from. I donated our freezer stash last weekend to a mama in need and we've already got excess built back up in the freezer!! I've changed bottles twice since going back to work when he was 3 months, I just bought another brand last night. But I am really worried about him not eating, he only weights roughly 16lbs. I just dread the 9m WBV with his ped!! When his sister was his age, she was drinking about 8oz of BM plus having snacks (puffs or cherios) and either babyfood or yogurt at daycare so that when she was with me she would exclusively nurse. Any thoughts Mamas? Thanks for reading, I know this was long.

If the water bottle is working, I'd suggest continuing with that. I know it must be harder for you even because of his low weight. If there was one thing I learned with my girl when I went back to work is that kids won't starve themselves.

Back in my child care provider days, I actually have seen the switching of bottles, sippies, etc. to be confusing for kiddos. It seemed like to me that once a kid finally accepted a nipple, it could have been just that they were accepting the bottle in general. I have no scientific proof to back that up, so take or leave it... just my observations from my work with babies. If he refuses to take it, then tell your dcp not to force it. Just offer, and if he refuses, just offer again later.

It's sooooo heartbreaking though and so easy for me to give advice right now. But when I went back to work this time, my stubborn girl didn't eat for TWO WEEKS with my dh. But in the end, she just had to decide to eat on her own.

You said you have tried a cup. Have you tried sippy cup? Or a cup with a straw? I have found the bottles that my Lo likes is the playtex drop ins. B/c it got the boob part. She takes those just fine. I had to feed my friend's baby from a bottle and she is ebf and she wouldn't take all the other bottles but she took right too that one. Too have you tried leaving a shirt that has your smell on it like one you wear and leave it with the DC to use when trying to feed your LO? maybe that will help.

Keep switching bottles. My dd did that until I broke down and got (of all things) the old school playtex nurser that I didn't want to get b/c I didn't want to have to buy the liners. And it HAD to be the latex slow flow nipple, nothing else. I decided she liked it because A) the nipple is wide, and she would put her mouth around it widely like she did on the breast, and B) maybe the latex feels more like skin than silicone? I don't know, I just know she never took a silicone nipple or binkie.

If you're not totally ready to give up on solids, you may be able to skip straight to disolvable finger foods like cheerios. My dd did okay on purees, but by 9 mo she was so over them and wouldn't eat them anymore. But, if he hasn't done much solids at all he may not have the coordination in his mouth/throat to handle it, so be careful. While you're right that they don't need the nutrition in solids, the reason to give solids in the first year is mostly so they can practice eatting and get their throat muscles used to swallowing and to introduce new textures. Banana peices, cut small, are also a good choice bc they're super soft.

So he didn't do well with the Breastflow bottle today. Only 1oz total. This brings us up to a total of 4 bottles and 3 kinds of cups too. We started out with Playtex Nursers with the drop in liners, tried Ventaire (the wide ones) then tried the Nuk bottles, he did ok with them for about a week, then the breastflow today. Cups we have tried the Nuby with the soft spout, Nuk brand cups that are shaped like the nuk nipples and then the avent trainers with the long flat spout. We do co-sleep and he's been teething so we is awake more than usual so nursing more at night. He also nurses roughly 3 times between getting home in the afternoon and bedtime. I have also given up on purees and tried table foods and little munchies like cherrios and fruit puffs but nothing makes it in his mouth. So all he wants is mama milk and preferably from the tap! Thanks for the advice thus far and keep it coming!!